Speed-control device.



W. S. MENDEN. SPEED CONTROL DEVICE.

Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

W. s. MENDEN. SPEED CONTROL DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 8, 1913.

l,] 32,205. Patented Mar. 16, 1915.

SSHEETS-SHEET 2.

4W. S. MENDEN. *SPEED CONTROL DEVICE.`

' APPLICATION FILED sBPT.8,191s. 191 329205, Patented Mar. 16, 1915. I s SHEETS-SHEET a.

5 Vwo vwo z nrrrrnn errar WILLIAM s; MENDEN,` or' Bnoonnzmnnjw YORK, 'assIoNon ro zninciosm COMPANY,

INC., s. oonrons'rron or Nrw YORKl speen-CONTROL :envien To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAMS. Marsman, a citizen of the United States, residmg 1n the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings,

and State of New York', have invented cer-y tain new and useful Improvements in Speed- Control Devices, of which thefollowing is a full Yand clear specification,

This invention relates to speed :control devices for vehicles and especially such vehi.- cles as rapid transit cars whichwtravel at 'relatively high speed during' some portions of their route but Whichmust ybeV positively limited in speed while passing` over other portions of their routes. n 'f The general purpose of the vpresent lnvention is to provide certain improvements in the system of speed control orjvehicles disclosed in my copendin'gfapplication Serial Number 777,238. According to the .system disclosed in' Said application,'gwhenever a predetermined speed limit was exceeded, certain speed-controlling instrumentalities became operative to automatically reduce the speed below such limit.

The primary object oi the present :invention is to provide improved means for reestablishing normal working conditionsu-nder which the vehicle is operated, said means being adapted to enable a regulation of the minimum speed limit at whichit becomes operative in restablishing normalrunning conditions.

My invention is exemplified in the. drawings in its adaptation to a rapid transit car. In the drawings-.Figure 1 isa wiring diagram of one embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 isa modified wiring diagram;

'Fig 8 is an axial section of thejpreferred embodiment of my improved lcontrolling magnet, parts being shown in slde elevation;

*Figli isa top plan viewvot the same;` and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of a. modifiedform of the controlling magnet, parts being broken away and parts shown in section. f

According to the embodiment. :shown in Fig. l, the axle 1 of the vehicle which is supportedby thel usual wheels2 indicated by dotted lines, constitutes one element of an operating system which provides a power that varies proportionally to the speed of the vehicle'. Thus said axleconstitutes an element. which rotates continuously7 while the car-'1s motion. A dynamo 3 which is Specification of Letters jEatent.

patenten naa. raisin'.

.Application led September 8, 1313i. Serial No. 788,746.-

mountedadjacent to the axle 1, forms an auxiliary source of power, said dynamo being .driven by means of a rollei 4 which 1s geared thereto. In order to. drivetlie' roller 4 it, is journaled a't 5 in a bracket 6,an electromagnet 7 being mounted yoliithelbracket 6 which is pivcted at 6 bn.tliaxis' of the dynamo 3.. Whenever' ari electric current is passed through thelnagnet from a line wire 8` and. branch .Sith-e core' of said magnetbecomes energized and draws it toward they axle 1, the roller 4 being thereby Idrawn intorunning conta'ct with said axle 1.' A. wiiiejl() :connects tliemagnet 7 with al contact'bar 11. lieldwinding 12 of the generator is lconnected by a branch line 125- f ,presently referred to. ln'order to provide suitable and efficient means for closing said operating circuit, a circuit closing bar 2T may-be mounted on a plunger 28 which carries at its lower end a roller 29, said roller being adapted to ride over a cam bar `3() which may be disposed at any suitable point along the route of the vehicle to elevate the plunger 28. Said cam'bars 30`can be made of varying depths so as to raise the plunger 28 into positions to respectively close the operating circuit across' the contact bar 1l and any one of the contacts 24, 25 and 26.

A Wire 31 which is grounded at G serves to ground the magnet7 whenever the plunger 28 is operated iny the manner referred to'. The' solenoid 'or magnet 17 together with its armature or plunger to be presentlyreferred to, constitutes meansl vforactuating 'an instrumentality for controlling the speed of the vehicle. said instrumentalityin the present embodiment consisting of an air brake valveq'which controls a pipe 32 which leads to suitable air brake operating mechanism. According tothe present embodiment, ay clrcuitclosing switch A33 is mounted on the' upper end of the plunger 34 in suitable posi-'7 tion itc-bridge 'the gap between the contacts tween which and the contact 11 and the extremity of lead wire 10 is formed a gap. The circuit closing bar 27 which is carried by the plunger 28 is adapted to be raised in suitable position to close the ap between contacts 11 and 24 whenever t e roller 29 carried by the lower end of the plunger 28,

rides ov'er the contact bar 30.

. Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4, the preferred embodiment of my improved solenoid or magnet is shown in. its adaptation to the present system of speed control for vehicles. Thus in Fig. 3, the solenoid winding 17 is mounted upon a suitable core 39 which is threaded at either end into suitable metallic disks and 41. Interposed between each of said disks 40 and 41 and the solenoid winding 17, is a layer of insulating material 42. .Said disks 40 and 41'serve to close the opposite ends of a cylindrical housing 43 of the solenoid 17', the upper disk 40 being disposed to provide a recess 44 within which an armature disk 45 is adapted to reciprocate. For this purpose, said disk 45 is mounted 4on the upper end of a. plunger 46, which is reciprocably mounted in the central bore of the core 39. The lower end of the plunger 46- is connected by a stem 47'with a valve 48, which normally closes a port49 leading to the outside atmosphere from a valve chamber 50 with which the air pipe 32 connects. Valve 48 is provided with a disk 51 against which abuts one end of a spring 52, said spring being mounted upon a plug` 53 which is threaded to a bushing 54 in the boss 55 which depends from the lower disk 41. Threaded within the upper end of the core 39 is a bushing 56 which lby reason of its vertical adjustment;

constitutes means for varying the air. gap existingbetween the plate 40 and the armature 45. It will be seen that by this confstriiction, the armature 45 will .be displaced under the action of the magnetism from solenoid 17 only when suiiicient energy is supplied tosaid solenoid to aifectthe disk lacross said air gap. Moreover, after the armature 45 hasbeen drawn inwardly as far as possible, it will be retained in such position until the. size of the air gap causes an l' i interruption due' to the drop in current within the solenoid 17 as the speed of the vehif cle decreases. This device therefore constitutes means for varying a predetermined minimum speed limit fory the vehicle. 'ln the embodiment shown 'in Fig. 5 a solenoid 17" is adapted be conm-oecd up within em odiment is designed to control the action of a braking'meclianism alone, the circuit` closing bar 33 of the embodiments shown in Figs. l to 4 included, is eliminated and the upper end of the'solenoid housing is closed by a cap 56.

The operation of my improved system will now be understood and briefly described as follows: As a vehiclesu'ch as a rapid tran` sit car enters a zone in which the speed is to be limited to a predetermined maximum, the roller 29 carried bythe plunger 28 rides over a. cam b ar 30 with the result-that the circuit closing contact bar 27 is caused to bridge the gap between one of the contacts 24, 25 and 26 andthe contact bar 11. Im-

mediately the magnet 7 is grounded at G and becomes energized. As a result the roller 4 is drawn into rolling contact with the axle 1 and the generator 3 caused to operate in building up a current which is large or small according to the speed of the vehicle at that instant. If it so happens that the speed of the vehicle is above the predetermined maximumfor that zone, the current transmitted from the ,generator 3 through line`15 to solenoid or magnet 17, line 19, ground line 31 and ground line I14, serves to actuate the armature 45 and cause the valve 51 to be displaced from its seat. Immediately the pipe 32 is operi to the outer atmosphere through port4 49 an the brakes applied, thus. causiu a reduction of speed untilsuch time as t e ma 0uetism in the'solenoid 17 falls to such apoint that the air gap sov between the armature 45 and plate 40 causes a release of the armature 45 and consequent closing of the valve 51. The parts are thereupon automatically returned to normal inoperative position. According to the embodiment shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thetactuation of the armature 45 also removeslthe bar 33 from contacts 35 and 36. thus breaking the control wire 8. This circuit may be the' circuit .controlling the main operating circuit of the'car. Obviously. by adjusting the threaded bushing 56 the size of the air gap lexisting between the armature in inward position and the disk 40, may be varied so that the solenoid may be caused to release said armature at any desired minimum speed limit within certain practical limits.

What I claim is: 1. In a vehicle. a speed controlling instrumentality underV normal tendency to maintain an inoperative position provided with means operated during' predetermined Zones oi" travel for rendering it more or les's susccptil'ile to be held in operation. a source oi" poi-rer which varies with the speed of the vehicle. and means forconnecting said means with said source of power during predetermined zones of travel of said vehicle.

2. In a vehicle, an instrumentality controlling the voperation of said vehicle., an

y electromagnetic device provided with an ar-- mature for operating said instrumentality,-

netic device, `source of power and more or'- less of said resistance, and means for predetermining the amount of fixed resistance in circuit for a certain zone of travel. l

3. ln avehicle, an instrumentality for controlling the operation of said vehicle, an electromagnetic device providedwith an armature for operating said instrumentality, means for maintaining an air gapbetween said magnetic device and armature, a source of power which varies to correspond tothe speed of the vehicle, graded resistance, an electric circuit including said magnetic device, source of power, and more or less'of said resistance, said circuit being provided with spaced'contacts, and means adapted to be operated at predetermined points'along the route of said vehicle for closing the space between said contacts.

4. The combination` with a vehicle, of a conductor provided with a circuit breaker, an electromagnet, an armature for said magnet connected to said circuit breaker, means Copies of this patent may be obtained for Witnesses:

for maintaining an air gap between said' magnet and armature to prevent the opcration of said armature by said magnet under an insufficient supply of current, resistance, a source of energy which varies lwith the speed of said vehicle, an electric circuit including the above mentioned parts, and means rendered operative during predetermined zones of travel for closing said circuit and determining the amount of such resistance included in circuit. n

5. The combination with a vehicle, of a speed controlling instrumentality therefor, anv electromagnet, an armature for said magnet connected to said instrumentality, means for maintaining an vair gap between said magnet and armature to render the magnet inoperative on said armature under an insuficient supply of current thereto, and an electric circuit for said magnet including a source of energy which varies to correspond with the speed of said vehicle, said circuit being provided with a plurality of stepped resistances adapted to vary the predetermined maximum speed limit of said vehicle' with respect to. the minimum speed' limit therefor.-

lVILLIAM Sli/.HENDEN J. J. SINCLAIR, A. l WM. A. CoUR'rnANn.

Eve cents eaclnby addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

Washingtomnc." 

